Mattea Roach overcomes father’s death to finish second in ‘Jeopardy Masters’

Canadian quiz show champ Mattea Roach made it to the finals, but couldn’t clinch the “Jeopardy Masters” title.

The Toronto-based writer and podcast host finished second on Wednesday’s episode, with a combined score of $41,685.

James Holzhauer took home the prize, with a score of $43,795, while Matt Amodio came in third with $15,200.

The “Jeopardy” spinoff pit six recent trivia titans against each other, with a different combination of competitors playing two “high-stakes games” in each hour-long episode of the quarter- and semifinals.

The tournament came at a difficult time for Roach, who noted in Tuesday night’s semifinal episode that their father died in the course of filming.

According to the obituary, Philip Henry Roach died of a brain aneurysm at home in Halifax back on May 2 at the age of 57.

Our hearts go out to Mattea and their family ???? pic.twitter.com/8DS9qTrVEL

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) May 24, 2023

Roach said their dad was a big part of why they were able to compete on “Jeopardy” at all, instilling in them a love of learning.

Roach thanked everyone on set who ensured they could go home to grieve instead of continuing to film on what they said was the hardest day of their life so far.

“I was at the set of Jeopardy when my dad died. Short of being at home with family, I cannot imagine a better place to be when receiving such horrific news,” they wrote on Twitter. “My fellow contestants were beyond supportive in the moment, and so many people on the production side of things moved mountains to make sure I could get home to my family and then come back later in the month to finish out the competition.”

????(1/8) In one of my contestant anecdotes on tonight’s Jeopardy Masters, I’m talking about my dad. I’ve done this many times on the show before, but this time I’m speaking in past tense bc my dad died at the start of this month pic.twitter.com/JFFCPaJI5e

— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) May 23, 2023